Looking at the Grenfell Tower disaster is “like peeling the layers of an onion”, the leader of a nearby residents’ association has said. Samia Badani argued that behind surface issues such as building safety lies a “history of systematic contempt, neglect and discrimination”.
Writing a blog for HuffPost, she said those who witnessed the tragedy will never forget “the pain, the despair and the suffering” caused by the blaze, which killed at least 80 people in June. The chairwoman of the residents’ association of Bramley House, which lies in the shadow of the burnt-out 24-storey tower block in north Kensington, west London, argued that occupants were given unsafe housing and ignored because of who they are.
“Looking at Grenfell is like peeling the layers of the onion,” she wrote.
“Behind that is the history of systematic contempt, neglect and discrimination against the low-paid, the vulnerable and BME (black and minority ethnic) and migrant communities. This enabled those building regulations failures.
“But behind that is the reality of discrimination: the process that decides who it is gets burned to death and who sleeps happily in their comfortable homes.” Ms Badani called on authorities to deal with the “root causes” of the Grenfell tragedy and said the public inquiry must listen to the community, which has been excluded from crucial decisions in the past.
“Put simply, those in power value our lives less than they do the lives of the rich and powerful,” she wrote. “That is the fundamental cause of the regulations that failed to ensure our safety, and also why, when people like us have raised concerns, we have been systematically excluded, ignored and sidelined.”
